


Care

by serenbach



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 06:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10531026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenbach/pseuds/serenbach
Summary: Ignis comes down with a truly terrible cold, made worse when he's caught in Noctis' quintcast blizzaga spell.While Noct takes it upon himself to take care of him, Ignis is less mindful than usual of the boundary that exists between them, and permits things he would not usually allow himself.





	

Ignis woke one morning with a scratchy, achy tickle in his throat that promised to develop into a truly terrible cold.

He let himself feel miserable for just a moment before easing himself out of the tangle of limbs within the tent (it was too small for the four of them, they had only packed it in case of emergency, and none of them had thought that they would be using it so often) and went outside to light the grill and start breakfast.

His movements were slower than usual, he was _aching_ all over in a way that couldn’t be explained just from sleeping on the ground, his chest was painful, his throat was sore, his ears were ringing, and he was starting to sniffle.

Ignis didn’t often suffer from colds but when he did, they hit him hard. Really, it was probably unsanitary for him to be making breakfast for everyone in this state but by the time he’d come to that realisation Prompto had emerged from the tent with a yawn, and headed over to get out the dishes, shortly followed by Gladio who started digging through the cooler for the juice.

Noct was last, of course, and just when Ignis decided he needed to summon up the energy to go back across the campsite and wake him up, he crawled out of the tent, blinking and yawning, squinting in the daylight.

“Good morning,” Gladio drawled, scruffing up Noct’s hair while he was too groggy to retaliate, and Noct mumbled something inaudible back at him while he smoothed it back down.

“Heya,” Prompto said chirpily, and Ignis smiled at him, though his lips felt tender and cracked.

“Morning,” he said, and instantly regretted it. His voice was croaky and his throat felt rough.

Noct looked at him with more focus than he usually directed at anything first thing in the morning. “You don’t sound great,” he observed, frowning.

“Just a small cold,” Ignis assured him, despite his crackly voice. “Nothing to worry about.”

“If you say so,” Noct replied doubtfully, and headed to sit with the others, slowly making his way through his breakfast.

“What's the plan today, then?” Prompto asked once his plate was cleared.

Noct blinked, clearly having been caught up in his own thoughts. “Uh, we've still got that hunt we accepted the other day,” he said. “I don't think it's far from here.”

After a brief consultation of the map, they broke camp. Gladio packed up their gear and took down the tent, Prompto helped him clear up the breakfast dishes, and Noctis placed everything safely in the Armoury as they gave it to him.

Ignis was exhausted before they even got to the car, happy for once to let Noct take the wheel without objection. He cracked open a can of Ebony, hoping that the caffeine would give him a boost, but he was asleep before he’d finished the can.

He woke abruptly when the car stopped. Gladio had rescued his drink at some point and was regarding him with some concern. “Are you up for this?” he asked quietly.

There was only one answer to that. “Of course,” he answered stuffily, ignoring the fact his head was ringing and he was sweating. He shrugged off his jacket and left it folded neatly across the backseat, ignoring Gladio’s deeply sceptical look.

The hunt itself was fairly straightforward, even with Ignis feeling like he did. Four shieldshears, nothing to worry about. If Ignis hadn’t been caught in Noct’s quintcast blizzaga spell he would have probably come out of the battle none the worse for wear.

As it was, he was shivering badly even after the ice melted from his skin and hair, and he didn’t realise that he was lagging so far behind the others until Noct dropped back to join him.

“You’re really not alright, are you?” Noct asked him, studying his face in a way that made Ignis feel a little self-conscious.

“I’m fine,” he assured him. It would have probably been more reassuring if his voice had managed to come out any louder than a whisper.

“Sure you are,” Noct replied. “That’s why you’re sweating and shivering at the same time.”

“I wouldn’t be shivering if you hadn’t caught me with your spell,” Ignis pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I said _heads up_ ,” Noct replied defensively, but he did look sorry. He shrugged off the body-warmer he wore whenever he hoped to fit some fishing into their day and held it out to him.

“That’s not necessary,” Ignis said, but Noct didn’t lower his arm, waving the jacket at him.

“You’re always the one who tells me I’ll catch cold if I don’t wear my jacket,” Noctis told him in an (admittedly passible) imitation of his voice, and Ignis sighed in defeat, reaching out to take it.

It was a little too short and a touch too tight, but it was _warm_ and his shivering stopped almost immediately. “Thank you, Noct,” Ignis said, genuinely grateful.

Noct shrugged. “I knew you must have been feeling awful when you didn’t complain about those giant crabs being a waste of seafood.”

“I don’t do that every time,” Ignis objected, and Noct only scoffed in reply.

The journey back to the car felt interminable, and as soon as he was seated, Ignis fell asleep again.

\---

When he woke, Ignis was in a hotel bed, and it was sunset. His glasses and gloves were on the bedside table, next to a glass of water and a box of tissues. He wasn’t wearing his shoes, and Noct’s body-warmer was under his cheek, on top of the pillow. The room was quiet, aside from the very faintest beeping noise.

He sat up, confused, squinting around the room as he pressed a hand against his aching forehead.

“You’re awake,” Noctis said, uncurling himself from his chair and putting his phone (the source of the beeping) down on the table. “How’re you feeling?”

He still felt awful. “Where are we?” he croaked instead, reaching a shaky hand for the glass of water.

“We’re in the Leville,” Noct told him as he came and sat on the end of Ignis’ bed.

“Please tell me Gladio didn’t carry me up here,” Ignis said, leaning back against the headboard. He was still so tired.

“Slung you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes,” Noct answered, sounding amused.

“Better that than bridal style, I suppose,” Ignis murmured. It was so hard to keep his eyes open.

The bed creaked as Noct leaned closer and pressed the back of his hand against Ignis’ forehead, the way Ignis had done for him so many times in the past. “I’m just messing with you. You woke up long enough to walk here from the car, but you were pretty out of it. Collapsed right on the bed. Didn’t want to give my jacket back, either.”

“Sorry,” Ignis mumbled. Noct’s hand on his forehead was cool and comforting.

“For what?” Noct demanded. “Being ill? You’re burning up, Specs.”

“Where are the others?” Ignis asked rather than acknowledge Noct’s statement.

“Gladio’s gone to get a beer, taken Prompto with him,” Noctis said, leaning back and dropping his hand. The lack of contact made Ignis open his eyes again, and look at Noct’s blurry, worried face.

“You can join them if you wish,” Ignis told him, sincerely. “It’s truly just a cold, all I’m going to do is sleep.”

“Nah, I’m good here,” Noct said, deliberately casual, but Ignis understood that Noct had no intention of leaving him, no matter what he said, and he truly was touched.

“Thank you,” Ignis said, and Noct smiled. “I am sorry for holding us up, though,” he added, rubbing at his aching neck.

“You’re not – I spoke to Holly, she wants us to check on some pipes around Lestallum. The three of us can do that when it’s light while you sleep off this cold.”

It was a good use of their time, and they would get paid for it, so Ignis relaxed.

“I got you some painkillers and some cold medicine, and some soup from that café you like down the road, which you should probably have first, huh?” Noctis said, and Ignis nodded with a sigh. He knew Noct was right, but he didn’t feel like eating.

“I’ll wash up first, I think,” Ignis said, reaching for his glasses before easing himself out of bed and shuffling towards the bathroom.   

“I’ll put the soup in the microwave, then,” Noct called after him.

He didn’t have the energy for a shower, but he did feel a little better after having a wash and changing into the pyjamas he was only able to wear when they were safely in civilisation, and when he stumbled back into bed, Noct brought him the soup, as promised, carrying it gingerly so not to spill any. Ignis reached over and draped the body-warmer over a chair to ensure he didn’t get it dirty.

He couldn’t taste it, which was a shame, but it sat better on his stomach than he expected. He then took a couple of painkillers, a spoonful of cough medicine, and fell asleep while Noct assured him that he’d harvest his Zell Tree in King’s Knight for him so he didn’t miss out.

\---

Ignis woke to a coughing fit, a painful, hacking one that shook his whole body and made it hard to breathe. He struggled to sit up, but then Noctis was there, helping him to ease into a sitting position and holding a glass of water to his lips.

When he managed to stop coughing, he took the glass from Noct (he’d bashed the rim of it into his gum, not that he’d ever tell him) and drank deeply. He was shivering again.

The only light was from Noct’s phone, and it made him look ghostly pale, but even in that light his expression was clearly alarmed. His hand was still on Ignis’ back, patting him ineffectively.

“Maybe you should take some more medicine,” Noct said, reaching across Ignis for the bottle, and Ignis poured out another spoonful despite his doubts that it would do any good.

“Sorry to wake you,” Ignis said, his voice croakier than ever. Noct was sat close enough to him that Ignis felt it when he shrugged.

It was hard to tell for sure in the dim light and without his glasses, but it looked like the other beds were unoccupied. “Prompto and Gladio have not yet returned?” he asked, starting to feel alarmed.

“Yeah,” Noct said, “but they were sort of drunk and noisy so I got them another room.” Ignis sighed. He was costing them money, after all. Noct nudged him again, deliberately and gently, obviously understanding the sigh. “Don’t worry about it, Iggy.”

Ignis was too groggy to worry about it at the moment anyway, so he filed it away for later. He went to have another sip of water but the glass was empty. Noctis took his glass and refilled it for him, siting back down on the bed next to him when he returned.

“This is just like when you had chocobo pox when we were kids,” Noct said, and Ignis could tell he was grinning.

“And whose fault was it I had chocobo pox in the first place?” Ignis asked him, managing a smile of his own.

“Yours,” Noct answered promptly. “For ignoring everyone when they told you I was contagious and coming to keep me company anyway.”

“So I did,” Ignis replied, still not sorry about it. When Noct had first come down with the chocobo pox Ignis had ignored his uncle, Noct’s nanny, the royal physician and the king himself when they told him to stay away because it was catching in order to distract Noct with stories and games and ice cream and to hold his hands when the urge to scratch his spots got too much for him.

Then when Ignis had inevitably come down with it himself, Noct – still scabby but on the mend – had done the same for him, reading from his books, making up his own stories when he found the books boring, and fetching him snacks that were easy on his throat along with countless glasses of water, carrying them slowly and carefully in order not to spill.

“Are you going to read to me, then?” Ignis asked him, feeling a wave of tiredness wash over him.

“I bought a fishing magazine in town,” Noct replied, and Ignis could practically hear his smirk. “So I can if you like.”

“It would _reel_ -ly put me to sleep,” Ignis replied, managing a smirk despite himself, and Noct made a noise somewhere between amusement and offence.

Ignis smiled until he started coughing again, and like before, Noct patted him worriedly on the back, steadying his hand on the glass. When he stopped coughing, Noctis didn’t move away, even when the light from his phone shut off and left them in darkness.

The silence between them was comfortable, and yet full of unspoken words, as it so often was. Even though he felt truly awful and guilty for the delay he’d caused because of it, he had to admit, if only to himself, that he wasn’t sorry to spend some time with Noct.

He was aware that they didn’t have much time left together, not like this, anyway. They would find their way to Altissa, reunite with the Lady Lunafreya and reclaim the Ring, and somehow defeat the Empire and recover the Crystal, and then Noctis and Lunafreya would marry.

Not because of the treaty – that was well and truly null and void – but because both Lucis and Tenebrae would need restoring and rebuilding, and what better way to do that than have the Chosen King and the Oracle united in matrimony?

And while Ignis would stand behind Noct as his adviser and his friend – always – moments like these, when the spaces between them were full of _maybes_ and _what-could-bes_ and _almosts_ would be no more.

So Ignis let himself lean more heavily against Noctis, feeling his cool, clean hair press against his cheek and Noct's shoulder and arm move to better support his weight, knowing that he could blame it on his illness in the morning.

And when Noct pressed a clumsy, awkward kiss against his forehead just before sleep reclaimed him, he knew that when morning came they could both pretend that it was nothing more than a fever dream.        

**Author's Note:**

> You have no idea how long I spent debating if there were chickens in Eos. In the end I decided to go with chocobos because I know that they have those. I'm very fond of the idea of them looking out for each other as little kids. 
> 
> Also in my mind this ends with Noct and Ignis having a double wedding with Luna and Cindy, so don't worry too much about Ignis!
> 
> Comments and kudos always appreciated, thank you!
> 
> 19/4/17 - edited because I thought of a pun!


End file.
